Tie 16th, Tie 6th, ???

I begin filling in those question marks tomorrow. I'm coming off of my two best events of the year, and I'm feeling prepared to play well this week, too. I'm in the Pinehurst, North Carolina, area playing at Little River Golf Resort and Southern Pines Golf Club. Little River is the event's main host, and Southern Pines will host one of the first two rounds. I have played a practice round at both courses and feel ready for a solid week!

I play at Southern Pines tomorrow morning at 7:40. Southern Pines is very short by usual standards at 6,300 yards, but it does require thoughtful and accurate play from the tee. The greens have quite a bit of slope but are only medium speed and are very soft as well. Therefore, even though the Tour Officials are going to try to tuck the hole locations in difficult spots, birdies will still be readily available. My goal tomorrow is to position myself to have a putt at birdie on every hole. Often on "easy" courses, I feel like I need to make birdie on every hole to be successful, but this type of approach is both counterproductive and stressful. I want to play smart most of the day and only be particularly aggressive when I have a perfect yardage. If I am patient and commit to my plan on every shot, tomorrow could yield a great score.

On Thursday I head over to the event's host venue, Little River. That course is somewhat more demanding simply because it requires some medium and even long irons into the greens. However, it, too, offers a plethora of birdie opportunities.

I'm looking forward to another good week. My game feels good, and I am really having fun on the golf course right now. I'm going to stay relaxed and continue to keep my thoughts. I think the trend in my finish positions of late might just continue this week. Keep it here for my progress, or follow along at www.egolfprofessionaltour.com.